HIF1A and cancer: This phenomenon called the Warburg effect upregulates the expression of glycolytic enzymes and other glycometabolism-related proteins.4 In OSCC, similarly to other types of cancer, the activated HIF-1 (hypoxia-inducible factor 1) signaling pathway seems to be the main regulator of the Warburg phenotype.5 In this pathway, HIF-1α increases the expression of glucose transporters (GLUT), namely GLUT1 and GLUT3, which results in increased glucose uptake.